The maintenance technicians at a large industrial plant occasionally complained about problems that slowed repairs. The Plant Engineer met with techs on each shift and wrote down the complaints.
On the list were items like:
• Had to move items out of the way.
• Did not have proper test equipment.
• Unauthorized people in area.
• Operator talking at me.
• Could not find parts in stockroom.
• Poor lighting in work area.
• PPE not available.
• Unsafe conditions.
Even after combining similar complaints, the initial list was just over 40 items. The Plant Engineer wanted to create a feedback form but realized nobody was going to scan down that long list. So he picked five that seemed to be the worst for causing delay. He put those on the form, added an “Other” selection with a line for writing in the problem, and then ensured every repair technician had the form.
The Plant Engineer addressed some items not on the form (e.g, stockroom), but the input from each week of data from the form determined the next week’s priorities. The form got revised as problems were solved.
